HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines were just on the cover of People
magazine -- and now, they're the face of something else: a controversy
over the fact that their pastor preaches the Bible. For the last few
years, the Texas couple has charmed their way into people's hearts --
not just with their talent for renovation, but with their sweet and
genuine relationship. Their show "Fixer Upper" has exploded in
popularity, and the parents of four have never shied away from their
faith -- which they've talked about at length in their books and
interviews.

Today, that faith is under fire by a handful of far-Left extremists
who've latched onto a sermon the Gaines' pastor, Jimmy Seibert, preached
about marriage and sexuality. "If someone were to say, 'Marriage is
defined in a different way,' let me just say: They are wrong," Seibert said. "God defined marriage, not you and I. God defined masculine and feminine, male and female, not you and I."

Now, I'm not sure why it's news that a Christian church believes what
the Bible teaches about sexuality, but apparently, this is a shock to
the liberal media establishment. When reporters contacted the church,
the communications director pointed them to Antioch's webpage on "beliefs,"
where it says: "Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in
covenant commitment for a lifetime." That was their belief when the
church was founded 17 years ago -- and it's their belief today. And, as
recent polling points out, Chip and Joanne's church is hardly in the
minority! Fifty-three percent of all Americans
(not necessarily Christian) told Wilson Allen Perkins polling this
month that despite what the Supreme Court ruled, they still define
marriage as the union of a man and woman.

Obviously, the Left is trying to do to Chip and Joanna what they
unsuccessfully did to the Robertsons of "Duck Dynasty:" take down a
hugely successful program in a show of political force. That's unlikely
to happen to a couple like the Gaines, who have no interest in
renovating their views to suit a narrow ideology. Hopefully, HGTV has
learned since its ousting of the Benham Brothers that religious
discrimination doesn't play well with viewers.

You'll notice that while FRC talks about "far left extremists," the groups isn't specific about who these folks are. That's probably because they don't exist.

The link provided by the Family Research Council comes from the right-wing publication The Daily Caller. And that article leads to a Buzzfeed article, which was the only item talking about this couple. That's it. Just a Buzzfeed article. As far as it is known, there have been no effort to by any groups or individuals to boycott this couple's television show.

And if that's not enough, in the same news brief, FRC distorts another current event:

Meanwhile, there's no sugar-coating the intolerance at Kellogg's! Like a
lot of corporate bullies, the cereal company bowled over shoppers with
its decision to pull ads from media heavyweight Breitbart,
because the outlet is supposedly too conservative for Kellogg's taste.
"We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do
not appear on sites that are not aligned with our values as a company,"
said Kellogg's spokesman Kris Charles. "We recently reviewed the list of
sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue
advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that
site." The parent company of brand favorites like Eggo, Pop Tarts,
Pringles, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, and more is joining a few lesser
known retailers in boycotting Breitbart -- a decision that's sure to
rankle plenty of consumers.

While attempting to make Kellogg's sound like a bully by using a Washington Post article, FRC omits Kellogg's side of the story which was also included in the same article:

The company cited concerns that Breitbart News, which has been
described by many as portraying alt-right ideals, does not align with
its values. The term “alt-right” is described by the Southern Poverty
Law Center as “a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals
whose core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by
multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’
to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”

In the past, the Family Research Council defended former Breitbart head Steve Bannon while not mentioning how he made the site a resource for the white supremacist "alt-right." Now the FRC seems to be extending Breitbart itself that same courtesy of "sin by omission."

I sincerely doubt that the folks at the Family Research Council aren't aware of what they are doing in both of these incidents. It's not only sad that an organization which claims to talk about "traditional morality" is openly deceiving its supporters.

2 comments:

So the Fascist Research Cult is demanding Kelloggs compromise their values to cater to neo-Nazis but requiring anti-LGBT business to cater to LGBT people is "violating freedom"? More do as I say, not as I do from the religious reich. The second something is done onto them as they do onto others (Luke 6:31) they cry "You can't do that, but I can to do that you!" Hypchristians! Hey FRC if you believe it should be legal to discriminate against LGBT people, then the same should apply to LGBT, pro-LGBT, liberal, etc, etc discrimination against you your Bible says so & so does man's law.

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.